


next dream

by tauri



Category: Little Busters!
Genre: Community: 31_days, Gen, Refrain spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-19
Updated: 2015-11-19
Packaged: 2018-05-02 08:50:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5242184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tauri/pseuds/tauri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Komari waits.</p>
            </blockquote>





	next dream

**Author's Note:**

> 31_days challenge: 18-11-2015 - "there's always time for another dream"

The world is quiet, and Komari waits.

Above the roof lies nothing more complicated than the wide expanse of the sky, reaching in every direction. It is as it always has been; sometimes the sky is bright, but more and more these days, grey clouds fill Komari's field of vision. Sometimes it rains, and she takes shelter. She always goes back to the roof, because she knows that that is where she needs to be.

Beneath her position on the roof lies something far more complicated. Beneath her, school life goes on as it ever did... or something like it, at least. No teacher will ever come to the roof to scold her. No other student will appear, looking for somewhere quiet and just a little bit forbidden. There were days in which she would have bought bags of sweets and taken them there to enjoy under the bright midday sun, but those days are gone now; she knows that more than she knows anything else.

Kyousuke is still in the world. If he wasn't, she isn't sure if she'd be able even to know that that fact was true; this world has always operated under Kyousuke's rules. She is here, still, because his rules and her intentions run almost parallel. The world doesn't need to end because of her presence. It is perhaps possible that her presence will change nothing, but she refuses to believe that. Because she can still believe, she can stay in that world. More than anything, she will not give up on that belief.

Kyousuke is still present. Kengo is still present. Masato. Riki. And also--

Rin is taken to another school each morning, gently guided by Riki to a place where she will not feel threatened. Even then, Rin sometimes still objects, but he is gentle, and only wants what is best for her. Komari stands on the roof, fingers against the chain-link fence, able to see the school gates from her position. Each day, she watches Rin and Riki leave; each day, she watches them return. By that action alone, Rin goes somewhere that Komari cannot each; every day, she takes that action. Rin is still a part of this world, but coddled and removed from any situation that might cause her difficulty.

Komari thinks of approaching Rin, sometimes. Even if Rin is scared, even if Rin doesn't remember, might her eyes still not light up at the sight of a sweet pastry offered in friendship? Riki is unsure, and doesn't want to rock the boat. Kyousuke appreciates Komari's intentions, but flatly states that, with Rin as she is now, that is simply not possible.

' _As she is now_ '. Komari spends her time on the roof thinking about those words and their implications. ' _As she is now_ ' implies that some change is needed; that much seems obvious. Both Riki and Kyousuke seem opposed to that - Komari isn't completely sure that she understands why, but feels that their reasoning could make sense. For all that has happened, Riki still seems the most oblivious to the state of their world; to him, this is simply how things are, how Rin has to be treated. Kyousuke... Komari isn't so sure. She knows, at least, that something has gone wrong. That this empty world used to be full of colour, laughter, and friends. Something happened, and Rin's current state is a reaction to that.

" _I'm here for her, Kyousuke-san--!_ "

(They stood on the roof together, Komari pressing her hands together in determination as Kyousuke stood with his back to her, looking out on the microcosm construct of the school around them.)

" _I understand that. I honestly do_." (He turned to look at her.) " _You can't be there for her though, can you?_ "

" _I--... well, that is--..._ "

" _'Here' is not infinite. There will come a time when--_ "

" _I know, but until then--!_ "

" _... Do what you will._ " (He wasn't unkind, when he spoke that sentence. Komari truly felt that she had Kyousuke's blessing to act as she wished within that world, but couldn't help shake the feeling that she may yet be prevented if she tried _too_ much. Was there such a thing as trying too much? That almost felt like a challenge.)

Each person in that world held a precious dream; those that were absent had felt that happiness, and reached the end of their dreaming state. Komari had had that happiness, she knew that, but knew that _that_ wasn't _this_. She didn't know what sort of mental fortitude it took to remain within the world, but for as long as she could sustain it, she wasn't going to let that go. Rin, too, surely had a dream - her presence alone betrayed that fact. She had a dream, and the promise of survival - the one thing that Komari regretfully knew that she couldn't offer.

The world is quiet, and yet it still continues. For as long as those wishes converge, it is _still there_. Komari waits on the roof, confident that Rin will come to her. She isn't sure what it will take - action by Kyousuke, action by Riki, action by Rin herself - but she is sure that _it will happen_. It will happen, and perhaps, somehow, things can be as they were. Even if just for a moment. Should Rin desire it, then--

Even should this world reset once more, Komari will wait. If this dream has to end, then she is comfortable with waiting until Rin is the one strong enough to end it. That time will be bittersweet, but Komari knows that she will do her very best to smile. Perhaps, at that time, Rin might even smile back in reply; in this world, there is nothing more important to Komari than Rin's smile. On the strength of that alone, Komari feels that she could wait until the end of the world if that was the time needed for Rin to be ready. _Someday, you will be ready, and you will smile_. The thought warms her heart.

Another day begins, as fragile as anything else in that world. She has her wishes, and Rin has her dreams. Riki and Rin leave for the morning, as is their routine. Komari watches, as is hers. Kyousuke is the first to say that this can't continue on forever; Komari watches for any evidence of that routine breaking. She watches, and she waits. She wishes, and she dreams, and she waits.


End file.
